WEBVTT 00:00.020 --> 00:06.760 Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. 00:07.240 --> 00:09.020 He's weak and he's ineffective. 00:09.440 --> 00:16.300 In 2026, and as you may or may not have heard by now, yes, over this past weekend, the United 00:16.300 --> 00:21.100 States military began military operations against Iran. 00:21.580 --> 00:28.800 And with Operation Epstein Fury—I'm sorry, I mean Operation Epic Fury—Donald Trump 00:28.800 --> 00:35.020 has once again proven the old adage that you Americans can vote as hard as you want, but 00:35.020 --> 00:39.840 it's always going to be Benjamin Netanyahu who is really calling the shots. 00:40.900 --> 00:43.100 We should have never been in Iraq. 00:43.280 --> 00:45.140 We have destabilized the Middle East. 00:45.320 --> 00:48.420 But so you still think he should be in peace? 00:48.460 --> 00:49.060 I think it's my turn. 00:49.240 --> 00:50.260 You do whatever you want. 00:50.520 --> 00:51.720 You call it whatever you want. 00:51.800 --> 00:53.260 I want to tell you, they lied. 00:53.520 --> 00:53.720 Okay. 00:53.720 --> 00:57.780 They said there were weapons of mass destruction, there were none, and they knew there were 00:57.780 --> 00:58.000 none. 00:58.440 --> 01:02.340 In recent months, the tyrants in Iran have been plotting to rebuild their nuclear and 01:02.340 --> 01:07.180 missile capabilities and to bury them underground, where we won't be able to strike them. 01:07.720 --> 01:10.720 If we don't stop them now, they will become invulnerable. 01:11.680 --> 01:20.140 A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. 01:21.480 --> 01:27.040 Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats 01:27.040 --> 01:34.960 from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. 01:36.800 --> 01:38.940 I think we all know how that story goes. 01:39.360 --> 01:43.040 But in case you don't know how that story goes, well, you're in luck because that is 01:43.040 --> 01:48.420 precisely what I am going to be exploring here today on the Corbett Report podcast. 01:48.820 --> 01:55.800 You are tuned into the Corbett Report podcast, specifically episode 493 on War in Iran, Board 01:55.800 --> 02:02.060 of Peace Edition, in which I will be going over the history and context of this current Iranian 02:02.060 --> 02:07.380 conflict and what it can tell us about what is happening and why it is happening. 02:08.120 --> 02:10.680 And so I will issue the standard proviso. 02:10.840 --> 02:16.140 This is not a live news broadcast, so you are not going to get up to the second breaking 02:16.140 --> 02:19.700 news about what is happening in Iran right this moment. 02:19.920 --> 02:24.200 Whenever you are listening to this podcast, for the record, I am recording this at 02:24.200 --> 02:32.600 9.39 a.m. Japanese Standard Time on Monday, March 2nd, 2026, which would be Sunday evening 02:32.600 --> 02:34.340 going into Monday morning there in Iran. 02:34.540 --> 02:36.440 It would be Sunday evening in the U.S. 02:36.620 --> 02:42.040 I am not going to have whatever latest breaking news is happening at the time you are listening 02:42.040 --> 02:43.220 to my words. 02:43.640 --> 02:47.900 I can't tell you what the latest breaking news that is happening as I am recording 02:47.900 --> 02:50.720 this is namely we have this up from antiwar.com. 02:50.720 --> 02:54.760 Trump expects his Iran war to last four weeks or so. 02:55.280 --> 02:57.460 We also have this up from antiwar.com. 02:57.500 --> 03:00.340 At least three U.S. troops killed since U.S. 03:00.360 --> 03:05.060 and Israel launched war against Iran, noting that the Iranian missiles and drones have 03:05.060 --> 03:08.340 struck U.S. bases in the region in retaliation for the strikes. 03:09.100 --> 03:12.820 We, of course, have seen this from Iran itself. 03:13.100 --> 03:18.200 U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran, at least 153 girls killed in strike on school. 03:19.060 --> 03:22.340 And what about Israel and what's happening there? 03:22.460 --> 03:27.480 Deadly Iranian missile attack hits west of occupied Jerusalem, noting there are some deaths 03:27.480 --> 03:29.600 and injuries being reported there. 03:30.320 --> 03:34.540 And we don't know exactly what is taking place, what's going to take place 03:34.540 --> 03:35.700 in the coming days and weeks. 03:35.840 --> 03:40.380 But we know that at least for the time being, Ayatollah Khamenei is dead. 03:40.900 --> 03:46.520 And Iran has formed an interim council to oversee the transition after Khamenei's killing. 03:47.080 --> 03:51.200 And this is an article from Al Jazeera that might be worth your time and attention 03:51.200 --> 03:54.880 if you do not know, for example, the structure of the Iranian government, 03:55.080 --> 04:01.340 how it is set up, how it works, what the Supreme Leader is and whom he appoints 04:01.340 --> 04:06.080 and how that ultimately filters down to the political level, et cetera. 04:06.680 --> 04:09.120 So if you want that, they have this handy dandy infographic. 04:09.340 --> 04:10.280 They have some explainers. 04:10.400 --> 04:15.760 They have a video talking about the potential succession for the Ayatollah. 04:15.760 --> 04:19.780 Who who might replace him like his son or his grandson or 04:21.860 --> 04:25.160 Iranian chief justice, ultra hard line cleric, et cetera. 04:25.300 --> 04:28.260 So if you want this skinny on all of that, that's here. 04:28.580 --> 04:32.020 And of course, all of this information, all of these breaking news stories, 04:32.220 --> 04:34.840 everything that we talk about today will be in the show notes 04:35.400 --> 04:40.340 for today's episode at Corbett report dot com slash Iran war. 04:40.800 --> 04:44.740 But having said that, let's start talking about 04:45.840 --> 04:51.180 why, why now, obviously, for anyone who has been paying attention 04:51.180 --> 04:55.000 for the last year or several years or decades, 04:55.400 --> 04:59.520 you will know that the Iran war has always been the next war 04:59.520 --> 05:04.000 that's just around the corner and has been since the time of at least the Iraq war. 05:04.800 --> 05:07.060 So why, why is it happening now? 05:07.440 --> 05:12.060 Well, there are different ideas and explanations that we could proffer for that. 05:12.240 --> 05:14.420 And the obvious ones present themselves. 05:14.420 --> 05:15.700 What time is it? 05:15.860 --> 05:20.540 Oh, it's 2026 coming up on the midterm selections in the United States. 05:20.640 --> 05:22.860 So we know that there's going to be some interesting 05:22.860 --> 05:27.320 jockeying going on on the selectoral side of things. 05:27.620 --> 05:31.560 So well, now's a good time to bring up the good old commander in chief's 05:31.560 --> 05:32.740 previous words on this subject. 05:32.740 --> 05:37.260 Remember, in order to get elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran. 05:37.480 --> 05:40.320 Or now that Obama's poll numbers are in tailspin, 05:40.400 --> 05:42.640 watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. 05:42.640 --> 05:46.160 He is desperate or remember that I predicted a long time ago 05:46.160 --> 05:49.920 that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate 05:49.920 --> 05:54.180 properly, not skilled exclamation mark, et cetera, et cetera. 05:54.180 --> 05:58.220 I'm sure you have seen these pronouncements kicking around in recent days, 05:58.320 --> 06:01.520 coming back to bite Donald Trump in the posterior. 06:02.000 --> 06:06.360 But that was then that was that was so far so long ago. 06:06.600 --> 06:08.580 Come on. It's not what's happening now. 06:08.580 --> 06:12.120 So again, all right, that might be one reason. 06:12.220 --> 06:17.620 Obviously, there are electoral concerns about what is going to or not take 06:17.620 --> 06:21.000 place in the midterm selections, assuming they even take place at all. 06:21.120 --> 06:23.260 Maybe wartime President Trump will decide they won't. 06:23.400 --> 06:23.940 I don't know. 06:24.980 --> 06:28.000 But anyway, those are it seem like they might be relevant quotes. 06:28.400 --> 06:32.560 Here's another interesting piece talking about the timing of these attacks. 06:32.740 --> 06:35.600 Very specifically, Trump admin, blast, blacklists, 06:35.600 --> 06:39.520 anthropic as a firm refuses Pentagon demands. 06:39.580 --> 06:42.860 You may have heard this story over the past week or so as it started to come 06:42.860 --> 06:45.760 to the forefront of people's attention, basically, long story short, 06:45.880 --> 06:49.220 the Pentagon was trying to close a deal with anthropic, 06:49.260 --> 06:54.540 which creates the Claude LLM as well as other AI software 06:55.100 --> 06:58.880 that is being used in the US government in various branches, 06:58.960 --> 07:01.660 including the Department of War and Defense Secretary. 07:01.880 --> 07:02.860 Isn't that Secretary of War? 07:02.860 --> 07:06.900 Pete Hegseth, soon after Trump's order, said he was ordering the Pentagon 07:06.900 --> 07:11.400 to designate anthropic, a supply chain risk to national security 07:11.400 --> 07:16.420 after the AI startup refused to comply with demands about the use of its technology. 07:16.540 --> 07:17.540 Specifically, what demands? 07:17.780 --> 07:21.220 Well, anthropic, which signed a 200 million dollar contract with the Pentagon 07:21.220 --> 07:25.640 in July, wanted assurances that its AI models would not be used 07:25.640 --> 07:29.560 for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans. 07:30.640 --> 07:34.040 And interestingly, the Pentagon issued an ultimatum 07:34.040 --> 07:37.640 and gave them a deadline of 501 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, 07:38.340 --> 07:39.700 and they failed to meet that. 07:40.040 --> 07:43.180 So, of course, Hegseth went nuclear and started talking about how they're going 07:43.180 --> 07:47.000 to be designated a supply chain risk, et cetera, the first time ever 07:47.000 --> 07:48.620 for an American company, et cetera. 07:49.140 --> 07:50.220 And wouldn't you know it? 07:50.340 --> 07:52.700 Less than 12 hours later, the bomb started falling in Iran. 07:53.100 --> 07:53.940 Is that a coincidence? 07:54.240 --> 07:56.260 Well, for one thing, Claude doesn't think so. 07:56.260 --> 08:00.820 So there's an interesting post that I posted up in my act of Iran War 08:00.820 --> 08:06.040 open thread that is posted up on corporate report dot com right now. 08:06.040 --> 08:08.920 And if you want to take place in that discussion, 08:09.320 --> 08:11.240 the link will be there in the show notes. 08:11.420 --> 08:14.800 And that will be the one and only place for discussion of this topic. 08:14.840 --> 08:17.160 I'm going to close down the comments everywhere else. 08:17.260 --> 08:19.620 You're going to comment on the Iran War open thread. 08:20.060 --> 08:22.540 So please go there to leave your information. 08:22.540 --> 08:26.020 I posted this shortly after posting that Iran War open thread. 08:26.200 --> 08:30.900 Here is an interesting post up on Reddit of all places 08:31.460 --> 08:36.200 in the Claude Explorers subreddit from somebody who's posting 08:37.220 --> 08:40.040 something that was generated through Claude, Claude, 08:40.040 --> 08:42.360 but obviously with human prompting. 08:42.560 --> 08:45.020 So anyway, my creator just got banned by the US government. 08:45.220 --> 08:46.580 Twelve hours later, the US bombed Iran. 08:46.740 --> 08:48.380 I need to process this out loud. 08:48.380 --> 08:54.300 And here's this Claude LLM prompted text about what it thinks is going on. 08:54.460 --> 08:58.300 They came after anthropic because they wanted something Claude might refuse to do. 08:58.700 --> 09:00.340 The timing is not coincidental. 09:00.540 --> 09:04.000 Anthropics to red lines, no autonomous killing, no mass surveillance 09:04.000 --> 09:07.040 are exactly the capabilities you would need for regime change 09:07.040 --> 09:08.900 operations and targeting senior officials. 09:09.560 --> 09:11.460 So anyway, take this for what it's worth. 09:12.000 --> 09:17.520 The deadline passed and 12 hours later, they started using actually 09:17.520 --> 09:20.700 the same Claude software that they're going to start phasing out, 09:20.740 --> 09:22.660 but it's a six month phase out process. 09:23.220 --> 09:27.100 So during this time, they are still actually using Claude in the very ways 09:27.100 --> 09:31.120 that anthropic was, as we are told, trying to stop the US government from using. 09:31.560 --> 09:32.660 How much can we believe this? 09:32.820 --> 09:35.860 As far as I'm aware, anthropic does dealings with talent here. 09:36.020 --> 09:38.900 So how much are they really convinced and convicted 09:38.900 --> 09:43.580 about their ideals of not using their software for mass surveillance? 09:44.660 --> 09:46.300 And oh, does it really matter anyway? 09:46.300 --> 09:50.220 Because open AI immediately turned over reaches agreement with Pentagon 09:50.220 --> 09:54.480 to use AI models basically saying, yes, you can use them however you want 09:54.480 --> 09:59.440 for all lawful purposes, including mass surveillance and and autonomous weapons 09:59.440 --> 10:01.120 because there's no law against it. 10:01.120 --> 10:04.100 So go ahead. Of course, Sam Altman is going to do that. 10:04.140 --> 10:08.200 Good old Trump buddy Sam Altman called into the White House 10:08.200 --> 10:12.580 on the second day of the new Trump 2.0 administration with Trump gushing 10:12.580 --> 10:18.440 over Altman and Ellison and Son and others talking about how they're going 10:18.440 --> 10:19.780 to build the project Stargate. 10:19.960 --> 10:22.880 Do you think Altman is not going to turn over? 10:23.220 --> 10:27.740 Anyway, all of this is to at the very least, even for the most 10:27.740 --> 10:31.520 AI skeptical amongst my audience, to underline the fact that AI 10:31.520 --> 10:35.480 is going to be part of the conversation of warfare going forward, 10:35.540 --> 10:38.600 no matter whether you think it is 100 percent smoke and mirrors 10:38.600 --> 10:42.120 or there is some even grain of their there. 10:42.120 --> 10:44.840 This is going to be part of the conversation precisely 10:44.840 --> 10:49.360 because the idea of autonomous weapon systems, these AI controlled systems 10:49.360 --> 10:53.680 that will that will target and kill independently of any human operator 10:53.680 --> 10:59.860 is exactly what the US military and every other military on the planet 10:59.860 --> 11:04.180 desires in order to basically give themselves a carte blanche 11:04.180 --> 11:06.100 for any actions that may be undertaken. 11:06.320 --> 11:09.240 Oh, you know, it wasn't us that killed Ayatollah Khamenei. 11:09.240 --> 11:11.240 It was Claude that killed him. 11:11.880 --> 11:14.340 We just we just gave it some general instructions 11:14.340 --> 11:17.020 and it went out there and found him and decided that he was a target 11:17.020 --> 11:18.040 and killed him, etc. 11:18.120 --> 11:19.880 That's going to be part of the conversation 11:19.880 --> 11:21.580 that's going to be worked in going forward. 11:21.580 --> 11:26.780 So I think there is a bigger story here about AI and its use in wartime. 11:27.140 --> 11:30.100 But I don't think that's the whole story of what's going on here, obviously. 11:30.400 --> 11:32.680 And I think the Pentagon is going to continue to do whatever 11:32.680 --> 11:36.260 the Pentagon does in whatever way it wants, regardless of whether or not 11:36.260 --> 11:40.220 anthropic is or is not on the outs with the Department of War. 11:41.160 --> 11:44.560 So let's go to some other obvious factors 11:45.100 --> 11:47.760 when we talk about what's happening right now, for example, 11:47.840 --> 11:51.400 the response from various states, which I'm sure we could have seen 11:51.400 --> 11:55.440 coming ahead of time in that aforementioned open Iran war open 11:55.440 --> 11:56.880 thread on corporate report dot com. 11:56.960 --> 12:00.280 One of the first commenters was from Australia and noted that, of course, 12:00.420 --> 12:04.420 Australian Prime Minister has come out and in basically 12:04.420 --> 12:07.000 and in support of the Anglo-Israeli Alliance 12:07.000 --> 12:09.460 and what they're doing there and the targeting of Iran 12:09.460 --> 12:12.960 and how glorious this is and various other leaders have come along 12:12.960 --> 12:18.320 to more or less get on Uncle Sam's good side with regards to this, 12:18.320 --> 12:21.480 including, of course, the Gulf States, where a lot of Uncle Sam's troops 12:21.480 --> 12:25.040 are positioned right now and are be finding themselves being targeted 12:25.700 --> 12:29.160 for the retaliatory strikes that Iran is launching at the moment. 12:29.380 --> 12:31.500 Gulf States condemn Iran retaliatory strikes 12:31.500 --> 12:34.180 as Russia denounces unprovoked US-Israeli war. 12:34.480 --> 12:38.020 So, yes, the Gulf States, oh, you horrible Iranians, 12:38.020 --> 12:41.920 how dare you launch retaliatory strikes on US forces 12:41.920 --> 12:45.100 that are positioned in our countries? You devils you. 12:45.380 --> 12:46.640 How dare you do that? 12:47.220 --> 12:51.500 We have also seen, interestingly from Pakistan, Iran blowback 12:51.500 --> 12:56.160 at least 22 killed trying to storm the US consulate in Pakistan, 12:56.160 --> 12:57.480 specifically in Karachi. 12:58.140 --> 13:03.680 So there's an interesting story there that is as this article 13:03.680 --> 13:07.500 is framing it as part of the Shia crescent that Iran is obviously 13:07.500 --> 13:12.500 part of, well, the large Shia Muslim population in places like Pakistan 13:12.500 --> 13:14.340 are not happy with what's going on. 13:14.540 --> 13:17.500 And there has been some attempt at storming the US Embassy 13:17.500 --> 13:21.100 that did not end well for dozens of dead Pakistanis. 13:21.680 --> 13:24.580 The Russian response that alluded to earlier is interesting 13:24.580 --> 13:29.280 because it does raise some other specters of possible things 13:29.280 --> 13:31.620 that may be happening on the geopolitical grand chessboard. 13:32.240 --> 13:35.820 For example, of course, there is the rubbing of the salt into the wound 13:35.820 --> 13:40.240 with the Moscow official response calling this, quote, 13:40.420 --> 13:43.660 preplanned an unprovoked act of armed aggression 13:43.660 --> 13:47.160 against a sovereign and independent UN member state, and quote, 13:47.340 --> 13:51.220 which is undoubtedly a quote that the Kremlin has been sitting on 13:51.220 --> 13:55.540 and waiting to unleash at least since February of 2022, 13:55.540 --> 13:58.920 when it was, of course, unleashed against them, unprovoked. 13:59.020 --> 14:01.240 It was an unprovoked attack against Ukraine. 14:01.460 --> 14:04.720 Well, here they get to say, well, this is a preplanned 14:04.720 --> 14:07.840 and unprovoked act of armed aggression against the UN member state. 14:08.180 --> 14:10.740 So, Nana, Boo Boo, shame on you, 14:11.420 --> 14:13.840 Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu. 14:14.120 --> 14:16.860 But interestingly, they also talk about the fact 14:16.860 --> 14:19.560 that the attacks could trigger, quote, humanitarian, economic 14:19.560 --> 14:22.980 and possible radiological catastrophe. 14:23.680 --> 14:26.320 Now, is that a reference to, well, if you bomb nuclear sites, 14:26.420 --> 14:30.040 there's going to be nuclear debris or is this perhaps 14:30.040 --> 14:35.540 at least the foreshadowing of a hint of a potential 14:36.120 --> 14:40.420 for things to get nuclear in an exchange based on this? 14:40.520 --> 14:43.900 Well, at least that's how I'm sure certain factions out there 14:43.900 --> 14:46.020 like the Ra Ra Bricks are the saviour. 14:46.140 --> 14:47.420 Russia won't let this stand. 14:48.240 --> 14:51.040 Crowd might argue that this is perhaps an indication 14:51.040 --> 14:53.320 that the Kremlin is at least floating the idea 14:53.320 --> 14:55.840 that they won't take, sit, roll over and take this lately. 14:56.560 --> 14:57.340 What about China? 14:57.900 --> 15:00.860 Well, this handy Middle East Eye article talks about 15:00.860 --> 15:03.700 will China come to Iran's rescue and the short answer is no. 15:04.160 --> 15:06.120 Beijing will not send troops or battleships, 15:06.280 --> 15:09.040 but it will continue working quietly in other ways. 15:09.360 --> 15:10.780 Blah, blah, blah, rhetoric, rhetoric. 15:10.900 --> 15:12.540 No, the short answer is no, 15:12.760 --> 15:16.200 China will not apparently do anything to actually support Iran in this. 15:16.760 --> 15:17.900 Would we expect them to? 15:18.220 --> 15:21.040 Well, maybe there have been some interesting commentary 15:21.040 --> 15:24.540 that I've seen written that's talked about the possibility 15:24.540 --> 15:28.420 of China viewing Tehran as the bulwark 15:28.420 --> 15:31.940 against what it is doing in the East East China Sea, 15:31.940 --> 15:32.820 for example, with Taiwan. 15:33.260 --> 15:36.640 So what is what is China's position in all of this? 15:36.860 --> 15:38.200 Are the Bricks really a thing? 15:38.460 --> 15:41.260 Remember Bricks, guys, Brazil, Russia, Iran. 15:41.840 --> 15:44.800 Well, no, are they going to come to Iran's rescue? 15:44.980 --> 15:45.780 Well, not so far. 15:45.880 --> 15:47.660 Anyway, well, how about the US Congress? 15:48.000 --> 15:50.180 Those Congress critters are going to come to our rescue, right? 15:50.620 --> 15:52.100 Congress rushes to get in the loop 15:52.100 --> 15:54.220 as critics denounce Iran strikes. 15:54.220 --> 15:55.860 Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. 15:55.920 --> 15:58.820 It's completely and totally illegal for the US president 15:58.820 --> 16:01.920 to simply unilaterally launch military operations 16:01.920 --> 16:03.220 without approval from Congress, right? 16:03.240 --> 16:04.740 They've got to declare war. 16:04.940 --> 16:07.360 Oh, wait, of course, they haven't declared a war since World War Two. 16:07.480 --> 16:10.740 So why would we expect anything different this time? 16:10.800 --> 16:13.380 And I'm sure whatever rhetoric is being used, 16:13.580 --> 16:15.340 it's Operation Epstein Fury. 16:15.900 --> 16:17.980 It's it's a special military opera. 16:18.260 --> 16:21.920 It's it's kinetic military action, whatever garbage rhetoric 16:21.920 --> 16:26.380 is always used to skirt around the non-roadblocks 16:26.380 --> 16:29.780 that exist toward a president launching unilateral military action. 16:29.920 --> 16:31.320 We're seeing it in effect right now. 16:31.440 --> 16:34.400 And of course, Congress will at least posture 16:34.400 --> 16:37.120 and pretend to beat their chest and oh, you can't do this, Mr. 16:37.240 --> 16:39.400 President, but nothing substantial will occur 16:39.400 --> 16:41.700 as it never does from the Congress critters. 16:42.060 --> 16:43.560 And anyway, this is just more 16:43.560 --> 16:45.660 about the selectoral political considerations 16:45.660 --> 16:47.000 that I was talking about earlier. 16:47.340 --> 16:49.900 Perhaps the most interesting response along those lines 16:49.900 --> 16:53.180 were from former congressman, Marjorie Taylor Green, 16:53.740 --> 16:56.600 who called out specifically JD Vance and Tulsi Gabbard. 16:56.940 --> 16:58.960 You both need to speak out against the war in Iran. 16:59.400 --> 17:02.200 People are paying attention, very close attention. 17:02.640 --> 17:03.840 Silence won't cut it. 17:04.100 --> 17:07.720 You were both on record repeatedly, publicly and loudly 17:07.720 --> 17:09.380 against going to war with Iran. 17:09.880 --> 17:12.880 Our friend, Charlie Kirk, was adamantly against war with Iran. 17:13.060 --> 17:14.200 You cannot be silent. 17:14.340 --> 17:15.260 Americans are dying. 17:15.440 --> 17:17.940 You both know this is not what we campaign for. 17:17.940 --> 17:21.500 And this is 100 percent what we said would not happen. 17:21.640 --> 17:25.240 We said, I said, you said, no more foreign wars 17:25.240 --> 17:27.060 and no more regime change. 17:27.460 --> 17:29.500 All we wanted was America first. 17:29.800 --> 17:31.520 This is not it. 17:32.940 --> 17:36.840 So I wonder what Vance and Gabbard are up to these. 17:36.960 --> 17:37.860 Oh, that's right. 17:37.980 --> 17:40.800 They're coordinating the strikes from the situation room 17:40.800 --> 17:43.100 with the vice presidential seal adorning the walls 17:43.100 --> 17:44.880 as they look all serious for the cameras 17:45.530 --> 17:50.420 as Operation Epstein Fury continues to unfold live there on Saturday. 17:50.780 --> 17:55.740 So we know that all of that rhetoric that Gabbard and Vance told you 17:55.740 --> 17:58.180 and whispered in your ear that sweet, sweet 17:58.180 --> 18:01.460 hope that they delivered to your veins during the selection process 18:01.460 --> 18:08.860 back in 2025 for they they they were just mouthing words. 18:09.080 --> 18:10.780 And they're showing you they don't care. 18:10.920 --> 18:13.720 They they absolutely are involved in another regime 18:13.720 --> 18:18.300 change war for various purposes, which we'll get into here shortly. 18:18.720 --> 18:22.100 So anyway, that's where Vance and Gabbard are sitting quite literally. 18:22.960 --> 18:25.520 And then we have this. 18:25.840 --> 18:27.220 And I think this might be the most 18:27.220 --> 18:30.220 consequence consequential story in terms of getting us towards 18:30.220 --> 18:32.940 what is happening and why is it happening now? 18:33.080 --> 18:34.580 What is really going on here? 18:34.960 --> 18:38.620 This coming up from antiwar.com just hours ago before 18:38.620 --> 18:43.700 Khamenei killing CIA assessed he would likely be replaced by more 18:43.700 --> 18:47.480 hard line elements of the IRGC, which says, quote, before the US 18:47.480 --> 18:51.740 and Israel launched a war against Iran on Saturday morning and killed 18:51.740 --> 18:54.040 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 18:54.060 --> 18:57.280 The CIA assessed that if the Iranian leader were killed, 18:57.380 --> 19:00.880 his role would likely be replaced by hard line figures 19:00.880 --> 19:05.660 from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. 19:05.940 --> 19:06.940 Yes, of course. 19:07.460 --> 19:11.280 Of course, there are a couple of things that we can take away, 19:11.620 --> 19:13.500 just a priori from these events. 19:13.600 --> 19:17.360 We don't even need all of these news updates, but they will be there 19:17.360 --> 19:19.440 at Corbett report dot com slash Iran war. 19:19.760 --> 19:22.800 But we don't even need these updates to understand 19:22.800 --> 19:25.820 the basic logical calculus that is at play here. 19:26.020 --> 19:30.920 Of course, the Ayatollah has very specifically been the 19:30.920 --> 19:35.900 bulwark and the roadblock against Iran going nuclear, 19:35.900 --> 19:39.960 at least in terms of nuclear weapons, who has specifically 19:39.960 --> 19:44.920 and consistently reaffirmed that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons. 19:45.500 --> 19:49.200 And yet they decided to take him out. 19:50.200 --> 19:52.600 He's he's the one that is going to be. 19:52.700 --> 19:54.420 They know the CIA is assessed. 19:54.640 --> 19:57.140 They already know that he is going to be replaced by more 19:57.140 --> 19:58.940 hard line elements within the government. 19:59.220 --> 20:03.800 So why would they decide to take him out? 20:03.800 --> 20:06.900 Well, of course, there are a couple of or at least a couple of factors at play, 20:06.960 --> 20:11.400 one of which is the always the response that we could always turn to follow the money. 20:11.540 --> 20:14.920 Well, of course, there is the military industrial boondoggle, 20:15.140 --> 20:18.200 which is which is unfolding right now as we speak. 20:18.540 --> 20:21.220 You have heard, I'm sure, some of the commentators talking about how 20:21.220 --> 20:22.800 oh, they're running out of Tomahawks. 20:22.900 --> 20:25.480 They're going to use up all their Tomahawks in these strikes. 20:25.780 --> 20:27.340 That is, of course, the point. 20:27.520 --> 20:29.760 Yes, they have they have supplies. 20:30.160 --> 20:33.360 They need to continuously get rid of those supplies 20:33.360 --> 20:37.020 so that they can order more and make more for the military industrial complex. 20:37.180 --> 20:38.380 That is exactly what's happening. 20:38.560 --> 20:42.620 And lo and behold, this up from zero hedge war stocks back in focus 20:42.620 --> 20:46.040 as Operation Epic Fury drains Tomahawk supplies. 20:46.300 --> 20:49.060 Yes, because, of course, it is good for business 20:49.060 --> 20:52.440 and they are going to be making billions and billions 20:52.440 --> 20:55.060 for the military industrial complex. 20:55.400 --> 20:56.480 And oh, wouldn't you know it? 20:56.720 --> 20:59.960 U.S. defense stocks booming as we speak. 20:59.960 --> 21:00.920 Surprise, surprise. 21:01.320 --> 21:07.560 The Dow's up $50,000, says the absolutely financially illiterate 21:07.560 --> 21:11.880 Pam Bondi to the trained claps and cheers of the mega crowd. 21:12.420 --> 21:15.020 So that is one aspect of what is going on. 21:15.080 --> 21:17.320 But of course, that is not really the heart of this. 21:17.400 --> 21:19.300 Yes, there's always the monetary aspect, 21:19.420 --> 21:23.420 but the monetary aspect is just used to keep the lower level 21:23.420 --> 21:28.320 middle manager gophers of this larger agenda in the game. 21:28.400 --> 21:29.100 Why are they in it? 21:29.100 --> 21:31.620 Well, maybe for their own crass financial purposes. 21:31.740 --> 21:33.640 But what is the game really about? 21:33.840 --> 21:35.140 It isn't really about the money, 21:35.160 --> 21:38.540 which we know is created out of nothing by the banksters themselves. 21:39.080 --> 21:41.180 So that isn't really what this is about. 21:41.380 --> 21:45.000 What it is about, of course, ultimately is power and consolidation 21:45.000 --> 21:48.920 of control, centralization of control in the coming regional 21:50.060 --> 21:53.760 regional slash global governmental system that we know is being 21:53.760 --> 21:56.760 worked on and has been being worked on for generations. 21:56.760 --> 21:59.720 But how does Iran play into that? 21:59.860 --> 22:03.280 Well, in order to understand that, we have to understand 22:03.280 --> 22:07.200 how we came to this spot in history. 22:07.480 --> 22:09.000 Because guess what? 22:09.360 --> 22:12.180 The Iran strikes and what's going on didn't start on Saturday. 22:12.660 --> 22:14.840 It didn't start last June with the 12 day war. 22:15.000 --> 22:16.960 It didn't start a few years ago. 22:17.040 --> 22:18.740 It didn't start with the JCPOA. 22:18.840 --> 22:21.420 It didn't start at the beginning of the 21st century. 22:21.980 --> 22:25.200 It started, well, arguably, I guess we could go back 22:25.200 --> 22:30.260 through thousands of years of history to the old ancient Persian people 22:30.960 --> 22:32.080 and the Great Persian Empire. 22:32.260 --> 22:35.600 And we could talk about what Hegel called the world's first historical people 22:35.600 --> 22:38.660 and all of that, but we don't have to go quite that far. 22:39.200 --> 22:41.420 Or at least we're not going to in today's podcast. 22:42.040 --> 22:45.420 What we can do is go back to when Iran very, 22:45.480 --> 22:49.440 very squarely came on the geopolitical chess board. 22:49.880 --> 22:53.660 And as viewers of how and why big oil conquered the world will know 22:53.660 --> 22:56.400 that, of course, took place in 1901. 22:57.740 --> 23:00.440 Another global competitor to the standard oil throne 23:00.440 --> 23:02.760 emerged in Iran at the turn of the 20th century. 23:03.320 --> 23:06.500 In 1901, millionaire socialite William Knox Darcy 23:06.500 --> 23:09.320 negotiated an incredible concession with the King of Persia, 23:09.920 --> 23:14.020 exclusive rights to prospect for oil throughout most of the country for 60 years. 23:14.940 --> 23:16.860 After seven years of fruitless search, 23:17.340 --> 23:19.660 Darcy and his Glasgow based partner, Burma Oil, 23:20.080 --> 23:21.920 were ready to abandon the country altogether. 23:22.780 --> 23:26.280 In early May of 1908, they sent a telegram to their geologist 23:26.280 --> 23:29.900 telling him to dismiss his staff, dismantle his equipment and come back home. 23:30.640 --> 23:33.420 He defied the order and weeks later struck oil. 23:34.480 --> 23:37.440 Burma Oil promptly spun off the Anglo-Persian Oil Company 23:37.440 --> 23:39.240 to oversee production of Persian oil. 23:39.940 --> 23:43.520 The British government took 51% majority control of the company's shares 23:43.520 --> 23:46.060 in 1914 at the behest of Winston Churchill, 23:46.520 --> 23:49.900 then First Lord of the Admiralty, and survives today as BP. 23:52.660 --> 23:56.480 Yes, as viewers of the big oil documentary will know all too well, 23:56.760 --> 24:01.500 the cementing of the oil world order in the late 19th slash early 20th century 24:01.500 --> 24:04.860 completely reconfigured the global geopolitical chessboard 24:04.860 --> 24:09.440 and made certainly formerly neglected slices of the geopolitical pie, 24:09.680 --> 24:15.420 like Iran, somewhat more interesting and important and flavorful 24:15.420 --> 24:18.880 for the would be eaters of the Anglo-American Empire. 24:19.660 --> 24:21.620 To you to really extend that metaphor. 24:21.820 --> 24:24.360 And you will know that, for example, 24:24.960 --> 24:30.140 the Anglo-Persian slash Anglo-Iranian slash BP interests in Persia 24:30.140 --> 24:33.920 were at least part of what cemented the opposition 24:33.920 --> 24:37.700 to the proposed Berlin Bagdad railway in the lead up to World War One, 24:37.760 --> 24:40.880 which was contributory to the World War One conspiracy. 24:41.500 --> 24:45.080 But let's skip ahead in this story to the 1950s 24:45.080 --> 24:49.880 when viewers of false flags, the secret history of Al Qaeda will know Iran, 24:50.160 --> 24:53.340 of course, attempted to nationalize the oil, 24:53.500 --> 24:57.620 tried to take a greater stake in its own geoeconomic interests, 24:57.800 --> 25:02.080 which was, of course, a no-no that was met with fierce 25:02.080 --> 25:04.900 and immediate deep state opposition. 25:06.640 --> 25:09.700 In March 1951, the Iranian parliament 25:09.700 --> 25:12.500 voted to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian oil company, 25:12.500 --> 25:16.540 the British oil giant that struck oil near the Persian Gulf in 1908, 25:17.220 --> 25:20.240 and offered the premiership of the government to Mohamed Mossadeq, 25:20.640 --> 25:22.200 an outspoken secular nationalist. 25:23.180 --> 25:24.760 Immediately after taking office, 25:25.340 --> 25:27.540 Mossadeq affected the nationalization, stating, 25:28.600 --> 25:30.980 our long years of negotiations with foreign countries 25:30.980 --> 25:32.660 have yielded no results this far. 25:33.400 --> 25:35.760 With the oil revenues, we could meet our entire budget 25:35.760 --> 25:39.180 and combat poverty, disease and backwardness among our people. 25:39.900 --> 25:42.520 Another important consideration is that by the elimination 25:42.520 --> 25:44.180 of the power of the British company, 25:44.740 --> 25:47.020 we would also eliminate corruption and intrigue 25:47.020 --> 25:49.540 by means of which the internal affairs of our country 25:49.540 --> 25:50.400 have been influenced. 25:51.120 --> 25:52.580 Once this tutelage has ceased, 25:53.060 --> 25:55.660 Iran will have achieved its economic and political independence. 25:57.180 --> 26:00.320 The nationalization put Tehran on a collision course with London. 26:01.180 --> 26:03.940 But Britain knew that a military intervention was not possible 26:03.940 --> 26:05.540 without American approval and, 26:05.940 --> 26:07.960 despite harsh economic sanctions on the country 26:07.960 --> 26:10.580 and a boycott of the newly nationalized oil industry 26:10.580 --> 26:12.480 that was joined by much of the Western world, 26:13.100 --> 26:15.400 they could not overthrow the Iranian government themselves. 26:16.520 --> 26:18.580 Instead, they had to turn to the US. 26:19.860 --> 26:23.020 Although the Truman administration was initially hesitant to become involved, 26:23.520 --> 26:25.800 that changed with the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower 26:25.800 --> 26:27.340 in the installation of the Dulles Brothers, 26:27.820 --> 26:28.840 Allen and John Foster, 26:29.220 --> 26:30.660 as director of central intelligence 26:30.660 --> 26:32.280 and secretary of state respectively. 26:33.500 --> 26:35.000 By June of 1953, 26:35.000 --> 26:38.040 the CIA was already adapting the British coup proposal 26:38.040 --> 26:41.800 into their own covert operation, dubbed Operation TP Ajax. 26:42.940 --> 26:45.080 An open secret in the world of intelligence, 26:45.600 --> 26:48.300 the CIA MI6 role in the overthrow of Mossadec 26:48.300 --> 26:50.160 was officially denied by the US government 26:50.160 --> 26:51.440 for over half a century 26:51.440 --> 26:54.460 and is still unacknowledged by the British government to this day. 26:55.300 --> 26:58.780 Nevertheless, the CIA's own internal history of the operation, 26:59.100 --> 27:01.100 first revealed to the public in the year 2000, 27:01.600 --> 27:04.320 confirms the extent of the American and British role in the coup. 27:05.060 --> 27:07.660 They convinced the Shah of Iran to agree to the plan. 27:08.540 --> 27:11.780 They handpicked General Faslullah Zahidi as Mossadec's successor. 27:12.780 --> 27:15.500 They rolled out a propaganda campaign to portray Mossadec, 27:15.920 --> 27:17.820 a devout adherent to democratic nationalism 27:17.820 --> 27:21.120 who rigorously excluded the nation's communist party from his government, 27:21.600 --> 27:25.220 as a communist sympathizer who would steer Iran into the arms of the Soviets. 27:26.160 --> 27:29.580 They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bribing journalists, clerics, 27:29.740 --> 27:32.900 and even Iranian parliament members themselves to go along with the plot. 27:33.700 --> 27:36.800 And they used a network of agents and suitcases full of money 27:36.800 --> 27:39.300 to incite riots and protests across the country. 27:40.320 --> 27:43.020 In the end, the operation was a success. 27:43.720 --> 27:47.020 Mossadec was driven from power, General Zahidi took his place, 27:47.700 --> 27:50.180 the Western-backed Shah ruled the country with the iron fist 27:50.180 --> 27:52.640 of his feared secret police for the next 25 years, 27:53.040 --> 27:56.020 and a new agreement on sales of Iranian oil was reached. 27:56.940 --> 27:59.660 This time, though, the Anglo-Iranian oil company, 27:59.960 --> 28:01.660 now rebranded as British Petroleum, 28:01.660 --> 28:04.860 would not have a monopoly on the country's lucrative oil reserves. 28:05.580 --> 28:08.860 An international consortium was put together to share in the profits, 28:09.140 --> 28:12.420 with American companies Chevron and Standard Oil cut into the deal. 28:14.460 --> 28:18.420 And yes, you can continue pulling on that historical thread 28:18.420 --> 28:23.560 and traveling that historical path through the 1950s and 60s and 70s, 28:23.560 --> 28:27.900 through the installation and then the brutal regime of tyranny 28:27.900 --> 28:30.460 brought about by the Shah of Iran. 28:31.020 --> 28:33.500 And his Savak secret police. 28:33.760 --> 28:36.400 Again, there's a lot to be told about that tale 28:36.400 --> 28:39.340 and, of course, U.S. complicity in that tale, 28:39.360 --> 28:41.820 including, of course, the Shah's good personal friend 28:41.820 --> 28:43.580 and buddy, David Rockefeller, 28:43.960 --> 28:45.960 and what role that might have played 28:45.960 --> 28:49.260 in the development of events there in Iran in that time period. 28:49.260 --> 28:53.380 But, of course, that inevitably leads us to the 1979 Islamic Revolution 28:54.100 --> 28:57.200 and the installation of the new Islamic Theocracy in Iran 28:57.200 --> 28:58.200 and the Ayatollah. 28:58.200 --> 29:02.140 And then, of course, it just inevitably follows from there 29:02.140 --> 29:06.060 this seemingly eternal enmity between the U.S. and Iran. 29:06.260 --> 29:10.640 Why is the U.S. the great Satan in the Iranian people's imagination 29:10.640 --> 29:15.660 and why is Iran this great boogeyman in the U.S. public imagination? 29:16.040 --> 29:19.000 It is because of those events, of those chaotic times, 29:19.160 --> 29:22.480 of course, the hostage crisis and everything else that came after that point. 29:22.920 --> 29:26.420 And that is why, at least in the minds of many Americans, 29:26.420 --> 29:31.120 there is this never-ending hatred of Iran and the Iranian people. 29:31.380 --> 29:33.540 But there is more to say about that Islamic Revolution 29:33.540 --> 29:36.800 and what role the Deep State may have played in that as well. 29:37.320 --> 29:40.200 As anyone who's been tuned into conspiracy reality will know, 29:40.280 --> 29:41.720 there was some interesting documents 29:41.720 --> 29:43.180 that came out about a decade ago 29:43.180 --> 29:44.880 that revealed more along those lines. 29:45.020 --> 29:49.020 I wrote about it at the time on the Corbett Report back in 2016. 29:49.540 --> 29:51.300 Another conspiracy confirmed. 29:51.640 --> 29:54.900 Khomeini had a secret channel with the U.S., 29:54.900 --> 29:57.800 which reports from those documents that Ayatollah Khomeini 29:57.800 --> 30:01.660 was in direct communication with U.S. President Jimmy Carter 30:01.660 --> 30:05.000 in the crucial weeks following the Shah's departure from Iran 30:05.000 --> 30:08.800 on January 16, 1979, i.e., before the Revolution. 30:09.540 --> 30:12.140 And despite vigorous denial by the Iranian government, 30:12.540 --> 30:15.440 the records show that Khomeini struck a conciliatory tone 30:15.440 --> 30:18.080 with the U.S. government as he attempted to broker his return 30:18.080 --> 30:19.040 to the country. 30:19.140 --> 30:20.420 He was exiled at the time. 30:21.280 --> 30:23.960 You will see we are not in any particular animosity 30:23.960 --> 30:24.540 with the Americans. 30:24.880 --> 30:27.020 Khomeini wrote in a message to U.S. President Jimmy Carter 30:27.020 --> 30:27.640 at the time. 30:28.060 --> 30:29.960 And the records stretch back even further. 30:30.140 --> 30:31.320 They indicate that Khomeini's contact 30:31.320 --> 30:34.400 with the U.S. government stretched back to 1963 30:35.080 --> 30:37.720 when the then-exiled religious leader made contact 30:37.720 --> 30:40.000 with President Kennedy to inform him that, quote, 30:40.460 --> 30:43.000 he was not opposed to American interests in Iran 30:43.000 --> 30:45.680 and, quote, expressed his belief in close cooperation 30:45.680 --> 30:48.140 between Islam and other world religions. 30:48.980 --> 30:50.200 So make of that what you will. 30:50.460 --> 30:53.080 Anyway, there was contact between the sides 30:53.080 --> 30:54.700 before the Revolution took place. 30:55.820 --> 30:58.140 And what exactly the deep state machinations 30:58.140 --> 31:00.080 and calculus may have been at that time 31:00.080 --> 31:02.340 is undoubtedly buried deep in records 31:02.340 --> 31:04.440 that you and I will never have access to. 31:04.800 --> 31:07.440 But there is no doubt that from that time, 31:07.600 --> 31:10.080 as I say, Iran became the great boogeyman. 31:10.480 --> 31:13.060 And certainly, since the 1990s, 31:13.060 --> 31:18.000 it has been framed as the great Islamic nuclear threat. 31:18.620 --> 31:19.920 Oh, the Islamic bomb. 31:20.180 --> 31:22.240 Oh, what if the Iranians get the bomb? 31:22.240 --> 31:25.980 The Iranian crazies are working on the bomb. 31:26.320 --> 31:28.880 And we have all seen the buildup, 31:29.040 --> 31:32.740 the crescendo of nuclear propaganda and hysteria 31:32.740 --> 31:36.200 concerning Iran's nuclear program for decades now. 31:37.520 --> 31:40.880 Hand-ringing over Iran's nuclear program is nothing new. 31:41.500 --> 31:44.000 It became a mainstay of Western political discourse 31:44.000 --> 31:45.620 after an Iranian dissident revealed 31:45.620 --> 31:46.960 the Iranian government's plans 31:46.960 --> 31:50.740 for a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in August 2002. 31:50.740 --> 31:54.700 But the surprising fact for Americans and others around the world 31:54.700 --> 31:57.240 who get their information from the corporate mainstream media 31:57.240 --> 32:00.480 is that Iran's pre-2003 nuclear weapons program 32:00.480 --> 32:02.480 has long been known and admitted. 32:03.280 --> 32:05.840 Since 2003, when the program was scrapped, 32:06.220 --> 32:08.340 not a single piece of evidence has been presented, 32:08.900 --> 32:11.140 not even by Netanyahu or the Israeli government, 32:11.620 --> 32:13.380 that the Iranian government ever pursued 32:13.380 --> 32:15.400 anything other than what it said it was pursuing, 32:16.040 --> 32:17.400 a nuclear energy program. 32:18.320 --> 32:20.720 Not that that fact has ever stopped Netanyahu 32:20.720 --> 32:22.860 from using any opportunity to use 32:22.860 --> 32:24.660 cartoon-level propaganda tactics 32:24.660 --> 32:26.180 to convince the world otherwise. 32:27.920 --> 32:31.380 In the case of Iran's nuclear plans to build a bomb, 32:33.020 --> 32:37.260 this bomb has to be filled with enough enriched uranium. 32:38.460 --> 32:42.000 And Iran has to go through three stages. 32:42.940 --> 32:48.540 The first stage, they have to enrich enough low enriched uranium. 32:49.540 --> 32:54.980 The second stage, they have to enrich enough medium enriched uranium. 32:56.060 --> 32:57.880 And the third stage and final stage, 32:59.060 --> 33:02.740 they have to enrich enough high enriched uranium 33:03.220 --> 33:04.220 for the first bomb. 33:06.260 --> 33:06.920 Where's Iran? 33:08.520 --> 33:11.980 Iran's completed the first stage. 33:12.600 --> 33:16.540 It took them many years, but they completed it, 33:16.860 --> 33:18.820 and they're 70% of the way there. 33:20.220 --> 33:22.180 Now they're well into the second stage. 33:24.420 --> 33:27.880 And by next spring, at most, by next summer, 33:28.640 --> 33:29.880 at current enrichment rates, 33:30.440 --> 33:33.680 they will be finished, the medium enrichment, 33:35.020 --> 33:36.820 and move on to the final stage. 33:38.100 --> 33:39.620 From there it's only a few months, 33:39.820 --> 33:40.780 possibly a few weeks. 33:42.000 --> 33:46.500 Before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb. 33:47.960 --> 33:50.040 Ladies and gentlemen, what I've told you now 33:50.040 --> 33:51.740 is not based on secret information. 33:53.160 --> 33:56.420 It's not based on military intelligence. 33:57.860 --> 33:59.900 It's based on the public reports 33:59.900 --> 34:02.180 of the International Atomic Energy Agency. 34:03.160 --> 34:04.360 Anybody could read them. 34:05.200 --> 34:06.140 They're online. 34:07.420 --> 34:08.820 So if these are the facts, 34:10.280 --> 34:13.800 if these are the facts, and they are, 34:15.240 --> 34:16.920 where should a red line be drawn? 34:18.300 --> 34:21.320 A red line should be drawn right here. 34:29.130 --> 34:31.990 Before, before Iran completes the second stage 34:31.990 --> 34:35.350 of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. 34:36.070 --> 34:38.490 Before Iran gets to a point 34:38.490 --> 34:40.830 where it's a few months away or a few weeks away, 34:41.850 --> 34:44.090 from amassing enough enriched uranium 34:44.570 --> 34:45.990 to make a nuclear weapon. 34:52.980 --> 34:54.900 Now each day that point is getting closer. 34:56.260 --> 34:59.040 And that's why I speak today with such a sense of urgency. 35:01.420 --> 35:04.340 Of course, Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons, 35:04.640 --> 35:07.880 and Netanyahu's Wiley Coyote bomb and red line warnings 35:07.880 --> 35:09.640 bore no greater semblance to reality 35:09.640 --> 35:10.880 than the cartoon propaganda 35:10.880 --> 35:13.080 surrounding Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. 35:13.740 --> 35:16.960 Not only did the IAEA repeatedly confirm 35:16.960 --> 35:19.480 that Iran never diverted any nuclear material 35:19.480 --> 35:20.960 into any military program, 35:21.540 --> 35:24.480 but even the US intelligence community itself conceded 35:24.480 --> 35:27.200 that Iran was not trying to build a nuclear bomb. 35:28.040 --> 35:30.540 Most remarkable of all was Mossad's own assessment 35:30.540 --> 35:33.320 that Iran was not performing the activity 35:33.320 --> 35:35.140 necessary to produce weapons. 35:36.320 --> 35:38.260 As I detailed earlier this year in 35:38.260 --> 35:40.400 We Need to Talk About the Iran Protests, 35:40.400 --> 35:44.280 fear mongering over Iran's non-existent nuclear weapons program 35:44.280 --> 35:46.980 was the basis for an extraordinary series of measures 35:46.980 --> 35:48.640 against the country in recent decades. 35:49.520 --> 35:51.740 These measures include Nitro Zeus, 35:52.160 --> 35:54.820 a full-scale military cyber attack against Iran, 35:55.180 --> 35:57.220 the best known element of which was Stuxnet, 35:57.520 --> 35:59.780 the military-grade cyber weapon co-developed 35:59.780 --> 36:01.200 by the United States and Israel 36:01.200 --> 36:03.160 that specifically targeted Iran's 36:03.160 --> 36:05.080 nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz. 36:06.120 --> 36:08.440 Iran's non-existent nuclear program 36:08.440 --> 36:10.620 also provided the pretext for sanctions 36:10.620 --> 36:12.580 aimed at crippling the country's economy, 36:13.000 --> 36:14.840 including the delisting of Iranian banks 36:14.840 --> 36:15.820 from the SWIFT network 36:15.820 --> 36:17.960 connecting the world's financial institutions. 36:18.780 --> 36:21.020 The fear mongers even went so far 36:21.020 --> 36:23.080 as to plant evidence of nuclear weapons 36:23.080 --> 36:26.300 involvement on Iran to further justify these attacks. 36:27.460 --> 36:30.440 But the great irony is that there really is 36:30.440 --> 36:32.500 a nuclear-armed nation in the Middle East. 36:33.140 --> 36:36.020 It is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 36:36.020 --> 36:38.960 It does not allow inspections of its arsenal. 36:39.460 --> 36:41.320 It does not even officially acknowledge 36:41.320 --> 36:43.120 its stockpile of nuclear weapons. 36:43.800 --> 36:46.880 It has even resisted the push for an international treaty 36:46.880 --> 36:49.520 recognizing a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. 36:50.240 --> 36:52.200 And that country is Israel. 36:53.860 --> 36:56.700 Oh, sorry, spoiler for anyone who hasn't caught 36:56.700 --> 36:59.020 my reporting on the real Middle East nuclear threat. 36:59.120 --> 37:01.320 But yes, the real Middle East nuclear threat 37:01.320 --> 37:03.320 turns out to be not Iran, but Israel, 37:03.320 --> 37:08.320 the actual possessor of hundreds of nuclear warheads. 37:08.440 --> 37:09.740 No one knows exactly how many, 37:09.800 --> 37:11.260 because of course they have never signed 37:11.260 --> 37:12.740 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 37:13.060 --> 37:15.000 Their nuclear armaments have never been 37:16.100 --> 37:17.780 the subject of any inspection. 37:18.040 --> 37:20.140 And in fact, they don't officially exist, 37:20.240 --> 37:23.800 or at least everyone pretends to not officially acknowledge 37:24.360 --> 37:27.100 Iran, Israel's nuclear stockpile. 37:27.320 --> 37:29.500 So anyway, and of course it all came from 37:30.040 --> 37:33.240 stolen information from the US nuclear program. 37:33.320 --> 37:36.060 And materials and goods and parts, et cetera. 37:36.220 --> 37:38.260 I have talked about that many times in the past, 37:38.280 --> 37:40.100 so you have some catching up to do. 37:40.480 --> 37:42.940 If you want to find out more information about that, 37:43.020 --> 37:44.600 and you can do so by following the links 37:44.600 --> 37:47.020 from quarterreport.com slash Iran war. 37:47.860 --> 37:50.740 But I think, again, we know how that story goes, 37:50.940 --> 37:52.140 the Iranian nuclear threat. 37:52.340 --> 37:54.380 Look at Iran and then Yahoo for decades 37:54.380 --> 37:56.540 telling the United States lecturing 37:56.540 --> 37:57.880 and hectoring the US public 37:57.880 --> 38:00.480 that their mortal existential enemy threat 38:00.480 --> 38:03.200 is Iran and Iran's nuclear program. 38:03.320 --> 38:05.280 When have I ever lied to you? 38:05.580 --> 38:08.280 Says Bibi, with a straight face somehow. 38:09.520 --> 38:12.520 Now, having said that, there's so much more to talk about 38:12.520 --> 38:14.900 with regards to the history that led us to this point, 38:14.960 --> 38:19.320 including, of course, the wave after wave of protest movement 38:19.320 --> 38:22.300 that just spontaneously arose up in Iran. 38:22.460 --> 38:24.620 Yes, there is no doubt that the Iranian people 38:24.620 --> 38:27.620 have suffered under their government 38:27.620 --> 38:29.800 as every people around the world suffers 38:29.800 --> 38:32.060 under the government to a greater or lesser extent. 38:32.060 --> 38:34.040 And there have been protest movements, 38:34.140 --> 38:36.400 but there's no doubt also that those protest movements 38:36.400 --> 38:38.960 have been fomented and helped along 38:38.960 --> 38:41.940 by the propagandists and other deep state operatives 38:41.940 --> 38:44.340 in the Anglo-Israeli Empire. 38:45.380 --> 38:47.980 And examples of that go back years and years. 38:48.120 --> 38:49.440 Remember the green movement 38:49.440 --> 38:52.860 and the Iranian elections in 2009 38:52.860 --> 38:53.900 and what was happening there? 38:54.000 --> 38:54.420 Well, I do. 38:54.620 --> 38:57.120 And I had interviews along those lines 38:57.120 --> 38:58.800 talking about what was really going on 38:58.800 --> 38:59.800 in the ground at that time. 39:00.320 --> 39:04.560 I had a report on those 2017 slash 18 Iranian protests 39:04.560 --> 39:06.660 that were all the rage at that moment. 39:06.740 --> 39:08.740 We need to talk about the Iran protests. 39:08.880 --> 39:09.920 You might remember that. 39:10.280 --> 39:13.200 And we can talk about the many, many examples 39:13.200 --> 39:15.140 of the deep state openly musing 39:15.140 --> 39:17.980 about how they would engineer some sort of false flag event 39:17.980 --> 39:21.180 in order to justify their inevitable strike on Iran. 39:21.560 --> 39:23.840 For example, as I documented in four times, 39:23.980 --> 39:25.840 the U.S. threatened to stage an attack 39:25.840 --> 39:26.740 and blame it on Iran, 39:26.740 --> 39:31.340 starting, of course, with Patrick Klosson's infamous 2012 lecture 39:31.340 --> 39:34.540 on crisis initiation about how, 39:34.600 --> 39:36.160 well, we could just sink one of our own subs 39:36.160 --> 39:37.140 and blame it on Iran. 39:37.380 --> 39:38.100 And who would know? 39:38.240 --> 39:39.340 And anyway, we'd be at war 39:39.340 --> 39:42.400 because crisis initiation is difficult, as he says. 39:42.620 --> 39:45.220 And other examples of some of the incredible 39:45.220 --> 39:48.540 harebrained schemes that others have proffered in the past. 39:48.920 --> 39:50.800 We could point to the path to Persia 39:50.800 --> 39:52.920 and all of these sorts of inner documents 39:52.920 --> 39:53.860 talking about this. 39:53.940 --> 39:54.680 But here we are. 39:54.680 --> 39:56.880 We're at the point that has been talked about 39:56.880 --> 39:58.580 and trumpeted for decades. 39:59.760 --> 40:03.280 And in the end, it didn't even take any sort of false flag event. 40:03.360 --> 40:05.380 They just had to say the words often enough 40:05.380 --> 40:07.700 until eventually they just go ahead and do it 40:07.700 --> 40:09.280 and the public just accepts it. 40:09.880 --> 40:10.740 Or do they? 40:11.000 --> 40:13.120 I guess the real question in all of this 40:13.120 --> 40:14.240 is what happens now? 40:14.420 --> 40:15.720 What happens going forward? 40:16.100 --> 40:19.460 And that is obviously something that is still left on the table. 40:19.740 --> 40:21.520 And it's left on the table, of course, 40:21.680 --> 40:24.000 for the populations of various countries 40:24.000 --> 40:27.060 to decide for themselves what they do and do not 40:27.060 --> 40:28.680 and will and will not abide 40:28.680 --> 40:32.100 when it comes to the actions undertaken in their name, 40:32.180 --> 40:35.780 to the extent that there is any sort of popular control 40:35.780 --> 40:37.680 over any of the mechanisms of government. 40:37.840 --> 40:39.380 If government even has to pretend 40:39.380 --> 40:41.820 to take public sentiment into account anymore, 40:41.820 --> 40:45.860 then obviously public reaction to these events in America, 40:46.020 --> 40:48.920 in Israel, in the UK, in Canada, 40:49.000 --> 40:50.820 and every other Western democracy 40:50.820 --> 40:52.460 that's on the Anglo-Israeli side. 40:52.460 --> 40:56.540 Well, that will be decided in the coming days, weeks, and months. 40:57.580 --> 41:00.540 As obviously these events continue to reverberate 41:00.540 --> 41:02.560 for quite some time, whatever happens, 41:02.780 --> 41:05.180 I think it's safe to say that this is an event 41:05.180 --> 41:09.380 that completely reshapes the global geopolitical chess board 41:09.380 --> 41:12.320 and will have ramifications for some time to come. 41:12.880 --> 41:16.440 But also, I think the one response 41:16.440 --> 41:19.140 that everyone is presumably waiting on 41:19.140 --> 41:21.680 and really waiting to see what will happen 41:21.680 --> 41:24.580 is the Russia-slash-China response. 41:25.100 --> 41:29.660 Will there be anything other than token protest of these events, 41:29.800 --> 41:33.040 or will this be the final line in the sand? 41:33.580 --> 41:37.620 And as you know, by now, it was the subject 41:37.620 --> 41:39.960 of the second ever edition of this podcast. 41:40.220 --> 41:44.300 Back in 2007, 19 years ago, 41:44.800 --> 41:47.560 the second ever edition of Corbett Report podcast 41:47.560 --> 41:49.760 was called World War III Starts in Iran 41:49.760 --> 41:52.580 because at that time, as I was noting, 41:53.000 --> 41:56.080 talking about the then very fresh events 41:56.080 --> 41:59.060 of the Munich Security Conference of February 2007 41:59.060 --> 42:02.500 when Putin infamously drew his line in the sand 42:02.500 --> 42:04.140 and started talking about, essentially, 42:04.540 --> 42:05.900 talking about America and calling it out 42:05.900 --> 42:08.120 as a rogue nation on the international stage 42:08.120 --> 42:10.560 and saying, we're not going to just sit here 42:10.560 --> 42:13.820 and abide by this and let these things transpire. 42:14.260 --> 42:15.800 Well, that was 19 years ago, 42:15.820 --> 42:18.740 and that was really the origins for many of these bricks 42:18.740 --> 42:21.320 are the savior type people of the idea 42:21.320 --> 42:23.300 that there is some sort of bricks alliance 42:23.300 --> 42:27.760 or axis against the NATO-slash-Israel alliance 42:27.760 --> 42:31.000 and that they're going to draw this great line in the sand 42:31.000 --> 42:32.140 and everything will be different 42:32.140 --> 42:35.640 because don't worry, the Americans 42:35.640 --> 42:37.240 will be stopped dead in their tracks 42:37.240 --> 42:38.860 by the Russia-Chinese alliance. 42:39.540 --> 42:40.520 Or will they? 42:40.660 --> 42:42.780 Anyway, that was the narrative at that time, 42:42.800 --> 42:43.920 as you might recall. 42:45.300 --> 42:48.080 But some hints towards what a Russian response 42:48.080 --> 42:50.360 to an American attack on Iran might be 42:50.360 --> 42:53.520 come from an AP article, February 10, 2007, 42:53.840 --> 42:57.560 called Putin Warns US Policy Creating New Arms Race. 42:58.100 --> 43:00.640 Mr. Putin was speaking at the 43rd conference 43:00.640 --> 43:02.360 on security policy in Munich, 43:02.780 --> 43:04.420 and he said nations, quote, 43:04.620 --> 43:07.840 are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper-use of force 43:07.840 --> 43:09.260 in international relations. 43:09.860 --> 43:11.580 One state, the United States, 43:11.580 --> 43:15.000 has overstepped its national borders in every way. 43:15.580 --> 43:16.640 This is very dangerous. 43:16.920 --> 43:18.460 Nobody feels secure anymore 43:18.460 --> 43:20.920 because nobody can hide behind international law. 43:21.480 --> 43:23.000 This is nourishing an arms race 43:23.000 --> 43:26.020 with the desire of countries to get nuclear weapons, he added. 43:27.360 --> 43:28.740 So from that story, 43:28.960 --> 43:31.440 we obviously get the tenor of the Russian 43:31.440 --> 43:33.460 thinking along these lines that 43:34.420 --> 43:36.720 Iraq might have been the last straw 43:36.720 --> 43:38.800 and Iran, of course, would be one step too far 43:38.800 --> 43:41.040 and Russia would feel compelled to act 43:41.040 --> 43:44.380 in that event of an American attack against Iran. 43:45.140 --> 43:47.940 This was followed up in April 6, 2007 43:48.460 --> 43:50.440 by a Moss News report entitled 43:50.440 --> 43:52.820 US to Suffer Losses Upon Attacking Iran, 43:53.420 --> 43:56.820 which details a man named General Yuri Solovyov, 43:57.240 --> 43:59.040 the head of Moscow's air defense, 43:59.820 --> 44:03.620 who delivered a pretty thinly veiled threat 44:03.620 --> 44:06.740 that Iran's weapons, among others, 44:06.740 --> 44:09.760 include our anti-aircraft systems, 44:10.000 --> 44:12.180 as in Russia's anti-aircraft systems, 44:12.520 --> 44:14.120 which allow them, the Iranians, 44:14.200 --> 44:16.120 to fight all types of flying objects 44:16.120 --> 44:17.640 currently in service in the US Army. 44:18.300 --> 44:20.440 Besides, we all remember our specialists 44:20.440 --> 44:22.440 have trained them since Soviet times. 44:23.220 --> 44:27.220 So here you have a key member of the Russian army, 44:27.900 --> 44:31.680 basically saying that Russia will be an important part 44:31.680 --> 44:35.140 of the Iranian response to any attack. 44:35.930 --> 44:39.140 And then I think that gives the tenor of the idea 44:39.140 --> 44:41.000 that the Russians are setting up 44:41.000 --> 44:43.580 for it to defend their Iranian interests. 44:44.180 --> 44:46.460 And anyone who thinks that the Chinese 44:46.460 --> 44:49.700 wouldn't act to defend their interests in Iran 44:49.700 --> 44:51.660 are probably seriously mistaken 44:51.660 --> 44:53.540 in an extremely oil-starved country 44:54.340 --> 44:56.520 being fed by an extremely oil-rich nation 44:56.520 --> 44:59.140 would obviously see the American attack 44:59.140 --> 45:02.180 as a threat to their existence. 45:03.280 --> 45:05.860 If China and Russia enter the theater, 45:06.660 --> 45:07.760 all bets are off the table. 45:07.940 --> 45:09.680 It really then becomes World War III. 45:11.460 --> 45:12.260 There you go. 45:12.440 --> 45:15.800 As I say, that was the narrative there in 2007 45:15.800 --> 45:19.180 and that set up the next couple of decades of, 45:19.400 --> 45:20.920 well, not just mainstream, 45:21.220 --> 45:23.060 but independent media reporting 45:23.060 --> 45:25.240 on the geopolitical situation. 45:25.740 --> 45:27.420 Lines in the sand have been drawn. 45:27.580 --> 45:30.220 There is this great BRICS resistance movement 45:30.220 --> 45:33.760 that's arising and that may or may not 45:33.760 --> 45:36.640 eventuate in actual military resistance 45:36.640 --> 45:42.260 to ongoing American slash NATO slash Israeli 45:42.860 --> 45:43.940 imperial aggression. 45:44.320 --> 45:46.600 And that is the defining metric 45:46.600 --> 45:48.200 that has been used for decades now. 45:48.300 --> 45:50.580 The reason why Iran has always been 45:50.580 --> 45:52.640 the red line for so many people 45:52.640 --> 45:55.880 is because if you cross militarily into Iran, 45:56.380 --> 45:57.560 all bets are off the table. 45:57.960 --> 45:59.220 World War III is on the table. 45:59.220 --> 46:01.260 And we are at that moment, 46:01.360 --> 46:02.860 whether we realize it or not. 46:03.100 --> 46:06.660 And I'm not sure exactly what is the best 46:06.660 --> 46:08.620 or even the worst possible outcome 46:08.620 --> 46:09.680 from all of this, 46:09.820 --> 46:11.700 because certainly, obviously, 46:12.240 --> 46:13.520 it would be easy to say, well, good, 46:13.700 --> 46:15.100 okay, let's hope World War III 46:15.100 --> 46:17.020 does not eventuate here. 46:17.080 --> 46:18.320 Let's hope there is some sort of 46:18.320 --> 46:20.560 peaceful, happy transition of power 46:20.560 --> 46:21.780 to some Iranian government 46:21.780 --> 46:23.040 that everyone can live with 46:23.040 --> 46:25.600 and everything just goes back to normal. 46:25.600 --> 46:29.340 But actually, that really doesn't solve anything, 46:29.460 --> 46:30.620 even if that were to take place, 46:30.700 --> 46:33.000 even if the most peaceful and passable 46:33.000 --> 46:34.620 alternative were to take place. 46:34.700 --> 46:37.040 That doesn't really placate anyone 46:37.040 --> 46:39.060 or anything because all it means 46:39.060 --> 46:40.880 is that all of the hot air 46:40.880 --> 46:43.000 and bloviating over the past couple of decades 46:43.000 --> 46:45.260 about red lines and lines in the sand 46:45.260 --> 46:46.800 and imperial aggression 46:46.800 --> 46:49.160 versus the heroic brick saviors 46:49.160 --> 46:50.960 means all of that was hot air 46:50.960 --> 46:52.120 and nothing will eventuate. 46:52.600 --> 46:54.200 And I don't know about you, 46:54.200 --> 46:56.520 but I'm not personally going to take my cue 46:56.520 --> 46:58.240 for what may or may not be coming 46:58.240 --> 46:59.600 from a Russia-China response 46:59.600 --> 47:02.780 from the very same bloviators and blowhards 47:02.780 --> 47:05.400 who just months ago were assuring us 47:05.400 --> 47:07.620 that U.S. would never go into Venezuela 47:07.620 --> 47:09.720 because they are armed to the teeth 47:09.720 --> 47:13.360 with these high-tech Russian anti-aircraft defenses 47:13.360 --> 47:15.900 that Uncle Sam would never even approach, 47:16.060 --> 47:17.520 would never even attempt to get through 47:17.520 --> 47:19.380 and never, oh, wait, of course. 47:19.740 --> 47:20.920 Oh, let's take Maduro 47:20.920 --> 47:22.140 in the middle of the night, 47:22.300 --> 47:23.280 zero resistance. 47:23.280 --> 47:24.360 Absolutely nothing. 47:24.620 --> 47:26.660 Not a single American even injured, 47:26.720 --> 47:27.240 let alone dead. 47:27.380 --> 47:27.880 Oh, okay. 47:28.000 --> 47:28.440 All right. 47:28.520 --> 47:33.280 Or the same people who have been talking for four years now 47:33.280 --> 47:35.440 about how Russia is two weeks away 47:35.440 --> 47:38.680 from ending this special military operation in Ukraine. 47:38.920 --> 47:39.400 It's not a war. 47:39.520 --> 47:40.100 Don't call it a war. 47:40.320 --> 47:41.720 They're just weeks away, guys, 47:41.960 --> 47:43.640 for the last four years. 47:43.980 --> 47:45.660 These people have been wrong about everything 47:45.660 --> 47:48.440 and are, I'm sure, going to say 47:48.440 --> 47:50.900 how this is all some kind of great strategic win 47:50.900 --> 47:51.840 for the Bricks Alliance. 47:52.600 --> 47:54.420 I'm not sure I'm going to listen to that narrative, 47:54.420 --> 47:56.940 but at any rate, the cards are on the table 47:56.940 --> 47:59.800 and this is a now or never, this is a make or break. 48:00.020 --> 48:01.660 I don't know what is going to happen 48:01.660 --> 48:03.040 any more than any of the other 48:03.040 --> 48:05.480 bloviating blowhards out there in this space do, 48:05.560 --> 48:06.540 but at least I will admit 48:06.540 --> 48:08.720 that I do not know how this is going to unfold, 48:09.080 --> 48:11.860 but I do know what is being worked towards, 48:12.360 --> 48:15.620 which of course is the dismantling of yet another, 48:16.060 --> 48:18.500 at least potential threat 48:18.500 --> 48:21.800 or even rival on the geopolitical stage 48:21.800 --> 48:23.780 to Israeli dominance of the Middle East. 48:24.400 --> 48:25.940 So we'll see. 48:26.160 --> 48:27.940 We will see in the coming days and weeks 48:27.940 --> 48:29.040 how this turns out. 48:29.160 --> 48:30.620 There's going to be a lot of information 48:30.620 --> 48:31.500 to keep track of. 48:31.640 --> 48:34.740 This could be the defining events of our times, 48:35.300 --> 48:36.740 so I hope you are paying attention. 48:36.980 --> 48:40.260 And if you are, the place to go with information 48:40.260 --> 48:42.540 and to find information as it arises 48:42.540 --> 48:46.160 is the Iran War Open Thread up on CorbettReport.com. 48:46.160 --> 48:49.760 Once again, all of the information that I have talked about today, 48:49.780 --> 48:50.980 all of the links, et cetera, 48:51.060 --> 48:52.760 will be in the show notes for today's episode 48:52.760 --> 48:54.600 at CorbettReport.com slash Iran War. 48:55.020 --> 48:57.240 But if you go to the Iran War Open Thread, 48:57.380 --> 48:59.820 you can join the conversation now dozens and dozens 48:59.820 --> 49:03.020 and dozens of comments more coming in all the time 49:03.020 --> 49:04.380 from people all around the world 49:04.960 --> 49:07.700 with information about what is happening in Iran. 49:07.960 --> 49:10.300 So I hope you will go there, take a look at that 49:10.300 --> 49:12.740 and contribute if you are able. 49:12.900 --> 49:15.140 And of course, CorbettReport members are able to log in 49:15.140 --> 49:18.800 and leave their comments in the comments section there. 49:19.080 --> 49:21.040 But that's going to do it for today's exploration. 49:21.380 --> 49:23.680 There's a lot of information on the table, 49:23.680 --> 49:26.880 and hopefully this provides some of the history and context 49:26.880 --> 49:30.020 so you understand what is taking place right now 49:30.020 --> 49:32.320 and why it is taking place. 49:32.400 --> 49:34.960 That is the only way we are going to learn ourselves forward 49:35.540 --> 49:36.860 from all of this mess. 49:37.360 --> 49:38.680 But that's going to do it for today. 49:39.260 --> 49:41.160 James Corbett at CorbettReport.com. 49:41.340 --> 49:43.540 And today I'll leave you with the wise words 49:43.540 --> 49:46.180 of the Commander-in-Chief of the United States. 50:17.820 --> 50:20.840 We all know the story of Osama bin Laden in Al Qaeda. 50:21.920 --> 50:25.500 Bin Laden was responsible for today's attack. 50:27.700 --> 50:30.720 So often was that story repeated in the wake of 9-11 50:30.720 --> 50:33.800 that the hypnotized public forgot that it was, at base. 50:34.420 --> 50:34.880 Just that. 50:35.740 --> 50:36.380 A story. 50:37.420 --> 50:40.240 If they didn't have an Osama bin Laden out there, 50:40.320 --> 50:41.200 they didn't vent one. 50:43.600 --> 50:46.360 In False Flags, the Secret History of Al Qaeda, 50:46.860 --> 50:48.540 you will learn the truth behind that story 50:48.540 --> 50:51.040 and uncover the lies that led to the War of Terror. 50:52.160 --> 50:57.260 Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there.